Tue 10/03/09 16:12

So I showed up at 10 Istanbul time. It’s dark out so I haven’t really gotten a sense of what the city looks like. I did go by some beautiful mosques, and some really fantastic looking forts. Other than that though I haven’t seen too much. I can’t wait to actually go out exploring tomorrow morning. One of the first things I’m going to do is find somewhere to buy a jacket. It’s cold here. I mean, what’s up with that? When I say cold, it’s like 7 degrees celsius which means it’s the coldest weather I’ve been in since early 2007.

The flight here was pretty good, it wasn’t full and I flew with Emirates, which is, in my opinion the best airline there is. It has the best service, best food, and for the most part the best people. I mentioned in the earlier post about how empty the airport was, and it made for kind of a strange flight. They opened the gate early, allowed us to board early, it was almost like no rules applied. Kind of nice. :) When I arrived in Istanbul I almost was dreading the process of getting my visa. I remember what it was like going to Thailand, or rather what some people had to go through. It was a long, painfully slow process of filling out forms and waiting in huge lines. So I was really dreading the whole process. When I got to the visa area in the airport tonight though the whole thing lasted about minutes, and about 4.5 of those were waiting in line. The actual process of getting a visa was look at my passport, place a sticker on a page, and take $20, literally 30 seconds. Very nice:)

Wish I had some photos to post, but not until tomorrow I guess.

So like every time that I head out, I come to the airport just to wait for a couple of hours. Each time I add an entry into my blog, it happens so often it feels as if it’s a tradition. So right now I’m sitting next to an electrical plug so I can surf the internet waiting for my chance to board the flight. I’ve got a little bit less than an hour to go before then. The airport almost feels deserted with the lack of people that are actually here.

It was kind of funny, I misread the time or forgot when I needed to be at the airport and panicked. For some reason I thought that I needed to be here more than three hours before my flight. I mean, I realized my error in the taxi, but by then it was too late. Oh well, it’s nice to know that I’m here and everything is ready to go.

So I’m sitting here playing on the computer like I always do when I’m waking up. You know, checking email, reading the news, and all the usual things, but this morning is a little bit different. I’ve got a nervousness going on behind the daily routine, the thought that in about 8 hours I’ll be getting on an airplane headed for a new adventure, is possibly the best feeling. :) When I think about it though, I really love the taxi ride to the airport, the boarding of the plane, the first step outside the airport at my destination… so this nervousness is just “one” of those great feelings.

My flight leaves Dubai at 7 and arrives in Istanbul at 10, so the flight should be great. I will be coming back on Sunday, very early Sunday morning.

Like my home page excerpt mentions, I have a spring break coming up in about 2 weeks. It is only four days but four days in Istanbul, Turkey is so much better than four days working in front of the computer. :) I kind of waffled over the other location that I really want to see while I’m here in Dubai, and that is India. There is something about the idea of India that I seem to really like. It could be the mysterious ‘ ness’ that I assign to it, or it could be that I love the idea of an ancient culture that has been for the most part ignored by Western society. Whatever the reason, I want to spend some time wandering India before I leave Dubai. The only reason that I didn’ choose India was because it required a visa, and I wasn’ in the mood to go through the “possible” hassle, when I can get a visa for Turkey when I show up at the airport.

I haven’ told anyone, well that’s not exactly true, I told one friend at work that I’m going and that’s all I am going to tell. I don’ know, I think that a lot of people are getting tired of my trips. They are putting me in a category or being a traveller so every new trip is nothing new. :) I guess I kind of like that, but it leaves no one really to talk about my adventures. I’ll still post what’s going on here on my blog, but I seriously doubt that anyone will read it.

Also, a little warning… since I’ve changed servers I have problems with the blog not recording the entries that I make when I use apostrophes. I don’ know why, but it’s happening all the time so if  I seem to not use contractions very much it’s because of that. I can use apostrophes if I place a slash in front of each one, so that may end up being a problem as well. Anyway, just thought I’d mention that.